IRONDALE, Alabama - An Irondale woman was shot in the chest during a robbery early today after police say two gunmen followed her and her boyfriend home from a Roebuck convenience store.

The 31-year-old woman was in surgery this morning at UAB Hospital. Her condition wasn't immediately available.

Police are searching for the two gunmen. They have issued a look-out bulletin for a turquoise Mercury Grand Marquis.

Irondale police Detective Michael Mangina provided this account of what happened: The woman and her 29-year-old boyfriend left their Hunter Ridge apartment about 2:30 a.m. to drive to a store in Roebuck to get snacks and drinks. As they were driving back to the apartment complex, they passed the Grand Marquis on U.S. 11 and, unbeknownst to the victims, the two men inside began to follow them.

When the couple got back to Hunter Ridge, they sat for a few minutes in their Chevrolet Tahoe and talked. At the point, the two suspects approached the victims' SUV. One of the suspects went to the passenger's side where the male victim was sitting. He hit the victim in the head with a sawed-off shotgun, ordered him out of the car and made him get down on the ground.

The second man went to the driver's side and forced the female victim out also. He was armed with a handgun. They demanded money and the car stereo, which they damaged trying to get it out and ended up leaving it behind.

As the suspects ran toward their vehicle, the female victim grabbed her own gun. The suspect with the handgun opened fire, hitting her in the chest and striking several nearby cars.

The victim's gun was unloaded. "But they shot her before she even had an opportunity raise her gun,'' Mangina said.

Police don't believe the victims knew their attackers. The only description they had on the suspects was two black males in their 20s.

Anyone with information on the suspects' identities or the whereabouts of the Grand Marquis is asked to call Irondale police at 205-956-5990.